Insiders: Komag climbs the SV150 ladder

COMPANY GOES FROM 63 TO 54 ON STRONG SALES
By Chris O'Brien
San Jose Mercury News

With today's publication of the SV150, let's take a look at stock sales at one unheralded company that made a sizable jump up the rankings: Komag.

The San Jose maker of disk-drive components landed at 54, up from 63 last year. Sales in 2006 rose to $937.7 million - up 37 percent from $686 million in 2005. The stock price is down to $30.76, compared with $34.66 at the start of 2006. In between, though, the stock enjoyed a nice ride up to $53.48 in March 2006, but has tumbled down slowly every since.

The company got only a temporary bump in the stock price when it announced March 21 that its first-quarter sales would be better than originally forecast. Rather then declining 2 or 3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006, the company said sales will rise "slightly." The stock has fallen slightly since then.

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SV150: Valley's public companies do well, but there are fewer of them

By Chris O'Brien and Jack Davis
San Jose Mercury News

The rosy numbers posted by the SV150 last year weren't enough to reverse one stark trend: The number of publicly traded companies in Silicon Valley continues to shrink.

Revenues for the SV150 rose, as did profits. Jobs posted their biggest post-bubble gains. Tech stocks' prices climbed.

But the valley lost 28 publicly traded companies - including 13 that were on last year's SV150 list. That was the sixth straight year of decline, leaving 280 public companies, down from a bubble-induced high of 417 in 2000. Already in 2007, three companies on the SV150 list have announced they are being sold.

Economists and forecasters seemed in general agreement that there's no need to hit the panic button - yet.

The vast majority of the companies - 25 - vanished through acquisitions. The difference from previous eras is that they're not being replaced as quickly by new companies going public. Instead, companies are increasingly opting to sell themselves.

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PUTTING STOCK IN BIOMEDICAL FIRM

ABAXIS SHARES HOT COMMODITY AS REVENUE RISES

Published: Monday, April 9, 2007
BY CHRIS O'BRIEN, Mercury News

Abaxis may not be the most recognized name in Silicon Valley. But its portable blood-testing devices have been slowly raising the company's profile.

As a result, the Union City biomedical company's stock price has been on a steady climb the past two years. And insiders, after laying low for several years, have begun selling stock at a decent clip over the past year.

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Insider Trading: An era is ending at SupportSoft

PIONEER, EX-CEO RADHA BASU TO LEAVE BOARD

By Chris O'Brien
Mercury News

One of the more path-breaking careers in Silicon Valley will quietly come to a close this month when Radha Basu steps down as a director at SupportSoft.

While Basu was often praised for her leadership skills at the Redwood City company, she leaves behind a company that struggled to find ways to grow after the tech bust. Still, it was a lucrative tenure for Basu, who remains one of the company's largest shareholders and has begun selling off her sizable holdings in recent months.

According to a securities filing in February, Basu owns 2.4 million shares of SupportSoft - about 5.4 percent of the company's stock. Since last August, Basu has sold 323,800 shares at prices ranging from $4.00 a share to $6.46 to collect $1.8 million.

Overall, Basu has sold a total of $6.7 million worth of stock since she joined SupportSoft.

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Insider Trading: Google stock enriches VC Doerr

SINCE 2004 IPO, SHARE SALES HAVE TOTALED 1.1 MILLION

By Chris O'Brien
Mercury News

Much of the attention that venture capitalist John Doerr has drawn in recent months has focused on his environmental advocacy and investment in "green" technologies. But thanks to his investment in search engine powerhouse Google, Doerr in recent months has been quietly amassing the kind of green that Silicon Valley has traditionally favored.

Doerr, a partner at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, was one of the early backers of Google, an investment that has added to Doerr's legend of spotting big tech winners. His roster has included Amazon.com, Sun Microsystems and Intuit.

Since Google held its initial public offering of stock in 2004, Doerr, who sits on the board of directors, has sold 1.1 million shares to collect $423.2 million. Those sales included 242,550 shares sold for $98.1 million that Doerr controlled indirectly on behalf of KPCB and its clients.

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Insiders buying on the bad news

3 COMPANIES DRAW INTEREST FROM INVESTORS

By Chris O'Brien
Mercury News

Each week, this column typically looks at insiders who are selling stock or exercising options. But in recent weeks, there have been several notable cases of insiders making big stock purchases.

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Insiders: Execs cash in on Hyperion's sale

ORACLE PURCHASE GIVES BIG BOOST TO STOCK PRICE

By Chris O'Brien
Mercury News

There's nothing like news that a company is being sold to send its stock through the roof. Just ask Hyperion Solutions.

On March 1, Oracle announced it would pay $3.3 billion in cash to acquire the Santa Clara-based maker of business intelligence software. That works out to $52 a share, a big premium over the $42.84 the stock had closed at the previous day.

When the market closed after the announcement, the stock had jumped 20.4 percent to $51.57.

That jump proved to be good timing for two insiders at Hyperion who sold stock that same day, under prearranged trading schedules known as 10b5-1 plans.

Robin Washington, Hyperion's chief financial officer, sold 5,000 shares March 1 at a price of $51.75 per share to collect $258,750. By comparison, Washington sold 7,400 shares Feb. 23 for $45 to collect $333,000. Washington, who joined Hyperion in January 2006, still holds 24,253 shares that could be worth $1.26 million when the deal with Oracle closes.

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